Breakfasting Clubbing #39
W/c 20th Jan. BC is ON in PDX, Milan, Philly, Wmsburg, Miami, Hamptons, CDMX, SF, DTBK, Manhattan, Cincy, SOMa + Amsterdam. Coming Up: Panama City, Portland ME, Seattle’s debut + Amsterdam again!
Hi all.
One of the things I appreciate most (and try to encourage) about Breakfast Club is the breadth (and depth, to be fair) of the subject matter, and how it inspires sublime connections between both seemingly unrelated topics, but previously unconnected people too.
Case in point: last week’s BC Classic in Williamsburg.
I thought I’d covered it pretty well in my recap, noting
“On this arctic morning, at my end we talked Ninja restaurants, the haunted upstate, Williamsburg lofts in 1999, sunglasses at breakfast, Twin Peaks, soap on a rope [turned out to be soap in a sock], Blue Velvet, Fire Walk with Me, Labyrinth, Jim Henson, upping your jacket game, sourcing a wedding suit, Stòffa, Patrick Johnson, tiger turtlenecks, sourcing glass bulbs, conspiracy theory cards, the sun as a cause of sneezing (?!), pineapples to stop, The Substance, the Brutalist, Blues Brothers, being anti Wicked, Selena Gomez’s spanglish accent, rollerskating at Xanadu, being made of water, baby food books, filtering your information intake, mothering superpowers, liminal moments, having it all (Beyonce style), Timbaland sampling Devo, smoking crack on the train, MLMs, essential oils spill, justifying The Row, gateway selvedge, physical media, newsletters, turning into robots, and lots more.”
So far so encyclopedic, right? That is until Ian commented:
“We talked about grim returns to our homelands, international mores, the triumph of Queer Eye season 9, John Hegarty’s rightness/wrongness, 2008 remix culture, RedNote/Xiaohongshu, People vs Algorithms, the need to actually support the survival of the press, not just lament its passing and most importantly, Trixie & Katya’s I Like To Watch.”
And then Lucie chimed in:
“We talked about the richness of op-eds and what they bring to storytelling compared to the straightforward nature of traditional journalism. We also discussed the difficulty distinguishing between real and fake in visual and verbal messaging and how we are all turning into robots.”
Which in turn prompted Hugh to reply:
“I really must get the Ibiza Breakfast Club going this year!”
Yes Hugh, you must, if for the thrill of trying to process it all, knowing you’ll miss some things, catch others, and introduce some of your own, most likely. That’s the spirt - the intrepidity to step into the void conversation and see where it leads you.
Hopefully it makes you smile and think, too. That’s why I do it - and why new chapters (Panama City! Seattle!) keep popping up. Not to mention literal pop ups like the one next week in Amsterdam (which follows the regular Amsterdam BC this Friday).
I’m lucky, here at Breakfast Clubbing, to participate vicariously in conversations like that all over the world, so I feel compelled to pass them along. It’s why I organize this weekly missive, and why I encourage everyone to both host and to report on their gatherings; the reports chart the zeitgeist and create a record of a still-globalized community in a time of increasing isolation. And they’re fun to recount, promise.
I’m stoked you’re all along for the fun. Onward and upward (and breakfast!).
Ben
The Breakfast Club Esprit de Corps:
* Everyone’s invited - especially you.
* Feel free to share, bring friends, colleagues, family, anyone.
* No agenda, no required buy-in, no need to RSVP. And no pitches.
* Everyone pays their own way.
* Everyone is welcome to subscribe. Join the Linkedin group here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14449223/Breakfast Club Editions Around the World (cities added regularly):
Weekly:
Portland, OR [Tuesday]
Mexico City [Wednesday]
Williamsburg Brooklyn[Wednesday]
Miami [Wednesday]
The Hamptons [Wednesday]
San Francisco [Wednesday]
Downtown Brooklyn [Thursdays]
Manhattan [Thursdays]
SOMa, NJ [Fridays] Bi-Weekly:
Melbourne [alternating between Fitzroy and Victoria] Monthly:
Barcelona[First Wednesdays]
London[First Thursday]
LA (West):[Second Fridays]
Vienna
Milan
Lugano
Amsterdam
Philadelphia
Portland, Maine
Burlington, VTBreakfast Club This Week:
Tuesday, Jan 21st
Portland, OR
Co-hosted by Nina Sers
9a @ Proud Mary
Wednesday, Jan 22nd
Milan
Co-Hosted by Charla Caponi, Moritz Glauditz and Giorgio Bartoli
8:30a @ Daylight Studio
Philadelphia
Co-Hosted by Julie Gerstein
8:30a @ The Wayward
Miami
Co-Hosted by Jeff Carvalho and Jesse Kirshbaum
8:30a @ Novella Cafe Social
Brooklyn (Williamsburg)
Hosted by me and a gang of regulars
8:30a @ Le Crocodile at The Wythe Hotel
The Hamptons
Co-hosted by Mike Kilcoyne
8:30a @ Tutto Cafe
Mexico City
Co-Hosted by Steve Bryant
8am @ Lalo
San Francisco
Co-Hosted by Eve Lewis and Chris M. Gillespie
8:30am @ Terreene in the 1 Hotel
Thursday, Jan 23rd
Downtown Brooklyn
Co-Hosted by Kat Popiel, Marina Garcia-Vasquez and Lynn Juang
8:30am @ Ace Hotel Brooklyn (Lobby)
Manhattan
Co-Hosted by Heidi Hartwig
9am @ Eva’s Kitchen on Grand
Cincinnati
Co-Hosted by Theo Erasmus and Emmit Jones
8:30am @ Mom and Em Coffee
Friday, January 24th
Amsterdam
Co-Hosted by Sheila Guo and Shhh Community
8:30a @ Uncommons Bar (Eerste Constantijn Huygensstraat 86H )
New Jersey (SOMa)
Co-Hosted by James Friedman and Evie Bear
9:15a @ Arties
Upcoming Breakfast Club Events
1.28: Panama City, Portland OR1.29: Miami, Hamptons, Williamsburg, CDMX, SF 1.30: Amsterdam, Manhattan, DTBK, Portland ME1.31: SOMa (New Jersey)2.10: Burlington, VT 2.13: SeattleBreakfast Club Event Recaps [Last Week]:
Breakfast Club Classic: 1.15.24.
Per my post: On this arctic morning, at my end we talked Ninja restaurants, the haunted upstate, Williamsburg lofts in 1999, sunglasses at breakfast, Twin Peaks, soap on a rope, Blue Velvet, Fire Walk with Me, Labyrinth, Jim Henson, upping your jacket game, sourcing a wedding suit, Stòffa, Patrick Johnson, tiger turtlenecks, sourcing glass bulbs, conspiracy theory cards, the sun as a cause of sneezing (?!), pineapples to stop, The Substance, the Brutalist, Blues Brothers, being anti Wicked, Selena Gomez’s spanglish accent, rollerskating at Xanadu, being made of water, baby food books, filtering your information intake, mothering superpowers, liminal moments, having it all (Beyonce style), Timbaland sampling Devo, smoking crack on the train, MLMs, essential oils spill, justifying The Row, gateway selvedge, physical media, newsletters, turning into robots, and lots more.
The crew was twenty-two: Eva McCloskey, Julie Stein, Ben Jenkins, Elizabeth 'Bibi' Nunez, Gina Gretchko, Heidi Hartwig, Aydan Sarikaya, Lucie Kim, Sam Boardman, Ian Edgar, Eric Korsh, Jose Castillo, Paula Herrera, Zaira Stefani Vallejo, Wen-Jay Ying, Zachary Mallard, Sundi Brewer-Griffin, Montana Knudsen, Jenny Cavaioli, Leonardo Olafsson, Ariel Abramov and me.
We do this every Wednesday at Le Crocodile Restaurant (at the Wythe Hotel) starting at 8:30.
Breakfast Club Hamptons Report 1.15.25
Per Mike’s Post: If you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?
- Marry for money
- Don’t be afraid of aging
- Don’t listen to your friends
- Listen to yourself
- Spend less time in the Hamptons
- Plan to retire at 50
- Take heart
- Find out early on what you like doing and do it
What we talked about:
Jim’s trip to Marikesh, “The Brutalist”, Architecture , “Emilia Perez”, Hair color , Not having partners, Appreciating every day, Sudden loss (LA fires), Where’s Mike?!
Who attended: Paula Davey, Ruth Greenbaum, Jim Porcarelli, Adam Harris, Daryl Westfall, Juliana, Amity Lucas, Ryan Duff, Rebecca J. Renée, Jonathan Shoemaker
Breakfast Club Miami Report 1.15.25
Per Jeff’s WhatsApp Message: [Just the group photo]
Breakfast Club CDMX Report 1.15.25
Per Steve’s post: First b.club of the year! // earthquakes! // Scheinbaum and AMLO // Morena and the PRI // Populism on both sides of the Rio Grande // the complex factors affecting exchange rates between countries, including supply and demand, interest rates, economic performance, political stability, and speculators // the decrease in remittances to Mexico from the US over the last few years (U.S. inflation) // changes in the Mexican judiciary system and the consolidation of power // the Gulf of America // America Mexicana // you might move out of the US but you'll never really leave unless you stop watching American news all the time, what are you doing, you're driving yourself insane
This morning we were a hungry four, including Maru M. Iglesias, Rodrigo, and Karen.
We do this every Wednesday in CDMX, everybody's invited—especially you 🤗
Breakfast Club San Francisco Report 1.15.26:
Per Chris’s post: Overheard yesterday: What's your relationship to New Years? Death of resolutions. Empty gyms. 75hard. 40hard. 75soft sounds right. Moving to SF. Desire mapping and—no relation—Happy Endings at The Makeout Room in the Mission on Tuesdays. Career-defining moments. Anthropology. Content mills. Mommy bloggers and the mysterious case of suspiciously long pregnancy. Sandler sales. Ogilvy and direct response. Drag queens as an invitation to be yourself. The Foreign Service. Dallas. Howard University. Using AI for critical career critiques. Using Notebook LM to narrate your trajectory. Were webinars always so pitchy? AI boyfriends and girlfriends. Mainly girlfriends. AI therapy as prevention. Children on planes. Growing into a parental-level forgiveness.
With Uzodinma, Ocean, Heavenly, Holly, Magali, Joe, Stephanie, and Eve.
Join the next one and open your aperture. The rules are simple:
1. Everyone’s invited—especially you.
2. There’s no agenda, cost, prep, pitching, nor RSVPs.
3. We do it because it’s fun. Any networking benefit is incidental.
Every Wednesday at the 1 Hotels in SF at 8:30am.
Breakfast Club Vienna Report 16.1.25:
Per Laura’s post: The Vienna chapter of the Breakfast Club event series came together for its second edition this morning – and what an inspiring start to the day!
Thank you to everyone who joined Astrid Reiter Sophie Prévost Florentina Olareanu Erik Nordholm Theresa Pochlatko - such a wonderfully diverse and creative group sparking conversations that flowed from animation and photography to communication, sociology, AI, the ever-accelerating pace of life, the commercialisation of space, and, of course, a touch of current politics.
It’s always a pleasure to share these meaningful moments and see the connections that grow from these conversations.
Carla Moss and I will share details for the next gathering soon – time and place to be announced here. In the meantime, if you'd like to join, just reach out to either of us. The guest list is open, and we can’t wait for more enriching exchanges. Everyone’s invited, especially you.
Breakfast Club Downtown Brooklyn Report 1.16.25:
Per Lynn’s Post: “First Breakfast Club (Downtown Brooklyn edition) of 2025 in the books! Conversations over coffee ranged from the latest RTW policies to masculinity in corporate America, Johann Hari's book "Stolen Focus" and the simple power of post-its, the ever-changing meaning of "PR" vs. "Communications" and the evolution of trade shows for the fashion industry. Oh and wide leg jeans.
Thanks to my cohosts Kat Popiel Marina Garcia-Vasquez and everyone who came through this morning: Jill Meisner Hilary A. Miners Sandra Nam Putri Trisulo Karen Labuca Christine Y. Tessa Travis Edina Sultanik Jennifer Rusk Zaira Stefani Vallejo and of course Ben Dietz for inspiring us to gather, connect, and be in creative dialogue with friends old and new.
Find us every Thursday 8:30am in the lobby at the Ace Hotel Brooklyn!
What's the agenda? None.
Who's invited? Everyone, especially you.”
Breakfast Club Manhattan Report 1.16.25:
Per Heidi’s post: Awesome Bfast Club today! We talked so many things from, a cee-lo sports league, film clubs and foundation forming, coloring book page for kids LA & NY kids to color and send to firehouse stations to thank them for all they do, The Cooper Union application, Elon Musk not outshining Trump, David Byrne and his good news spreading via Reasons To Be Cheerful site, Guy Richies grilling company, Japan shopping, Dji Osmo pocket cameras, Breakfast Club get ups around the city, And so much more! Hope to see you on the Lower East Side some Thursday!
We were Matt Lenski Heidi Hartwig Charles Bane III Randy Scott Slavin Randy Stulberg Wen-Jay Ying Elijah Torn Alex Corporan Henry Lee maggie trakas Leo & Theo!
Breakfast Club Cincy 01/16/25
Per Theo’s post: We talked about community, economics, the Dutch way of life, bakeries, coffee, tending your garden, art residencies, snow, ice on the sidewalk, jazz, photography, immersive art exhibitions critiquing capitalism, Wolfgang Streeck and sporting clays.
Emmit Jones, Art Hasinski, Ruth Anne Wolfe, Michael Coppage, Calcagno Cullen, Theo Erasmus, Ben Dietz
Breakfast Club Extra Friday Edition Report 1.17.24
Per Steve’s (second) post: Brooklyn! // Bushwick! // Renting loft spaces in Brooklyn's Bushwick with friends you met in Casey Neistat’s 368, building large wooden trees inside, and covering the walls with tennis ball soundproofing // walnuts // growth marketing for walnuts // putting walnuts in your overnight oats, highly recommend // really bad iced coffee at Frëims (but the cappuchinos are great) // the fact that any hot coffee placed in a glass receptacle is an abomination to god
Today we were two, including Leann Abad who is visiting from the OG breakfast club in Brooklyn, a pleasure to meet you brother.
We do this every week, usually on Wednesdays, but will always do an extra for visitors! Everyone’s invited—especially you!
Breakfast Clubbing #39